Mar 15, 2025
Play Ball!
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Play Ball!
The House passed a rules package Friday prioritizing the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would amend Title IX.
Amanda Christovich at Front Office Sports:
One of the first acts of the new House of Representatives: fast-tracking a bill to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. On Friday, the newly sworn-in 119th Congress agreed to a rules package that included the ban—the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act”—as one of 12 that will be fast-tracked to the House floor for a vote. The package states that almost nothing can get in the way of a vote for these 12 bills, save a couple of provisions including one hour of debate. “The radical left is not in step with the American people on the issue of protecting women’s sports,” Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), who authored the bill, said in a statement Friday.
The bill would amend Title IX, the statute that prohibits educational institutions that receive federal funding from discriminating “on the basis of sex,” and that has been used to require equal opportunities for women’s sports. The bill would add language to Title IX stating it would be a violation for a school to “permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women,” adding that “sex” can be solely defined as “a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” It would apply to all educational institutions receiving federal funding, from elementary schools with sports programs to NCAA collegiate institutions.
The House GOP’s bill that is deceptively named the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” is part of ongoing anti-trans extremist efforts to ban trans women from women’s sports from all sports competitions, from elementary level to collegiate level, is not about “protecting women’s sports” but pure transphobic rubbish.
See Also:
LGBTQ Nation: GOP-led Congress promises to “save” women with rushed vote on anti-trans sports bill
The race to see who can demonstrate the most cartoonish level of Donald Trump cult worship is unending. It’s only been a few months since Ho
Mark Sumner at Daily Kos:
The race to see who can demonstrate the most cartoonish level of Donald Trump cult worship is unending. It’s only been a few months since House Republicans tried to rename Dulles Airport after Trump, but that seems positively picayune when compared to the bill Rep. Greg Steube of Florida intends to introduce on Friday. Steube wants to rename the ocean after Trump. Not just one ocean, but the entire shoreline wrapping around the U.S. and covering over 4 million square miles.
His goal is for everyone everywhere—from Maine to Florida, along the Gulf Coast, up the Western Seaboard, all around Alaska, off the islands of Hawaii, and even in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa—to be surrounded by the Sea of Trump. All to celebrate a guy who is terrified of fish. [...] Even so, Steube is proposing a bill that aims to rename the entire 4,383,000 square miles the "Donald John Trump Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States." The bill insists that this name be used on “any applicable laws, maps, documents, and other records.” It’s not quite stamping every map with Trumplantic, Trumpacific, and Gulf of Trump … but it’s every bit as ridiculous. Like other Republican efforts to show their loyalty to Trump, this proves that there really is no limit. Now that Steube has raised the ante, stand by for the Trumpissippi River, the great state of Trumpessee, in the United States of Trump, on planet Trump, in the Trumpar System, in the outer arm of the Trumpy Way galaxy of the Trumpiverse.
The MAGA Cult comes coming up with whacko ideas, such as Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) proposing a bill renaming the entire coastline the “Donald John Trump Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States”.
In a textbook example of a Freudian slip, Rep, Greg Steube (R-17-FL) told a far right disinformation channel that he is happy to endorse Donald J. Chump for president in 2024.
A MAGA Lawmaker Had A Pretty Solid Freudian Slip By Saying He’s Proud To Endorse ‘Donald J. Chump’
Let’s hope that Rep. Steube is named chair of the Republican National Convention next year. 🤣
And Steube is yet another Florida lawmaker who has endorsed Chump/Trump rather than his home state Governor Ron DeSantis.
The Equality Act was rejected by one Republican congressman on the basis that the existence of trans people "offends" God.
Steube went on to accuse transgender people of rejecting “God’s design”, and warned that the nation would bear the consequences of this “rebellion”.
The congressman’s outdated stance was met with an immediate backlash from Democrats in the House, with the strongest condemnation coming from representative Al Green of Texas.
“You used God to enslave my foreparents. You used God to segregate me in schools. You used God to put me in the back of the bus. Have you no shame?” he asked.
“What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this congress,” added New York Democrat Jerry Nadler.
The Equality Act passed in the House of Representatives by 224-206 votes. It now goes to a further vote in the Senate before it can be signed into law.
Alyssa Tirrell at MMFA:
In late December, USA Boxing released a new set of guidelines for the inclusion of trans competitors, and right-wing media responded by criticizing the regulations, relying on anti-trans tropes and misinformation in their coverage. GOP members of Congress have since introduced twin legislation that promises to ban all trans competitors from the Olympic and amateur levels in any sport, citing the new regulations as a motivating concern and repeating the anti-trans framing popularized by right-wing media's backlash.
While the USA Boxing guidelines are a departure from a trend of sports organizations banning trans participation, the requirements are considered stringent. Athletes under the age of 18 must compete “as their birth gender,” and adult competitors are required to obtain genital surgery and regular hormone testing, both in the four years preceding competition and throughout any competitive period. Nevertheless, right-wing media are attacking the rules, which USA Boxing says build on the consensus of several medical groups and international athletic federations. On January 3, Fox News' America's Newsroom co-host Dana Perino referred to the eligibility requirements for trans female boxers as “nonsense.” Hosts and guests repeatedly referred to trans women as “men” or “guys,” and co-host Bill Hemmer quoted former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines' claim that “it will take a woman getting killed before these misogynistic fools wake up.” Fox’s Outnumbered also said a woman could die because of the new rules, arguing that the regulations would lead to “one-punch killings.” Co-host Harris Faulkner cited Gaines' campaign against the inclusion of trans swimmers, misgendering Gaines' former competitor Lia Thomas in the process and expanding the panel's criticism to trans inclusion in noncontact athletic competitions as well.
Despite such concerns over safety, coverage disregarded USA Boxing's medical citations, which include the recommendations of Boston Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine and Harvard Medical School Teaching Hospital. Instead, for instance, The Ingraham Angle platformed the perspective of UFC fighter Colby Covington, who argued that “it doesn't matter what their hormone levels or pronouns are,” because “when they dig up their bones in 200 years, their bones won't leave pronouns.” (Actually, archeologists are capable of imputing that a skeleton may have belonged to a transgender person after more than 200 years.) [...] USA Boxing responded to backlash by restating that it is in compliance with federal law. The following day, U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced twin legislation in both the House and the Senate that would “prohibit any governing body recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) from allowing men to participate in any athletic event intended for females.”
A joint press release cited the USA Boxing guidelines and repeated right-wing media's anti-trans framing. Tuberville's statement claimed that “men should not be competing in women’s sports at any level—and especially not in a sport like boxing. Whether in little league or the Olympics, it’s unsafe, it’s unfair, and it’s just plain wrong. This bill will ensure that the Olympics are fair to American women who train their whole lives to represent our country on the world stage.” The press release also cited the support of a number of anti-trans organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Independent Women's Forum, and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports and quoted several anti-trans figures, including American Principles Project President Terry Schilling and — yet again — Riley Gaines.
Right-wing media pundits, led by anti-trans grifter Riley Gaines, is leading the backlash against USA Boxing's trans-inclusive policy.
All aboard the suck-up train. Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida wants to force the Washington, D.C., public transportation agency to re
Walter Einenkel at Daily Kos:
All aboard the suck-up train. Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida wants to force the Washington, D.C., public transportation agency to rename itself from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (WMAGA). He also demands that the Metrorail be renamed the “Trump Train.” On Thursday, to promote this juvenile display of loyalty, Steube posted to his social media one of those AI-generated fantasy images right-wingers love so much these days. This one shows President Donald Trump wearing a “WMAGA” conductor’s cap. “In the spirit of DOGE, this bill demands accountability by conditioning federal funding on reforms that signal a cultural shift away from bureaucratic stagnation toward public-facing excellence and patriotism,” Steube said in a Thursday statement about his childish Make Autorail Great Again Act, which, if enacted, would withhold federal funding from WMATA unless it underwent this MAGA rebranding. The Florida Republican is no stranger to outrageous public displays of fealty to Trump. Last summer, he introduced a bill to rename ocean areas surrounding the United States as the “Sea of Trump.” Steube’s new gesture of submission is just the latest exhibition of worship by GOP minions.
MAGA Cult insanity in action: Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) has a moronic idea to force a renaming of the WMATA to WMAGA and demanding that the Metrorail (Washington Metro) be renamed the “Trump Train.”
See Also:
HuffPost: House Republican Wants Americans To Get Aboard This Bizarre Trump Idea
But as Johnson tries to wrangle the votes for the Senate-adopted budget, there is another larger problem for the speaker: He's losing goodwill among House Republicans.
According to three sources, Steube went off on Johnson during Tuesday's meeting, calling the speaker a liar and saying, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus!"
I love it how journalists will say things like "losing goodwill" to seem objective in a heated debate, and then the actual altercation will be an all out brawl where photos look like Baroque paintings. Or in this case, threatening an exorcism.
After Trump met with House Republicans on Tuesday, it still appeared doubtful that the House could adopt the Senate’s budget on Wednesday.